US Sues Illinois and Chicago for Impeding Trump Immigration Crackdown

The U.S. Justice Department sued the state of Illinois and city of Chicago on Thursday, accusing the Democratic strongholds of unlawfully interfering with Republican President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and seeking a court order blocking so-called sanctuary laws.

Citing a national emergency regarding illegal immigration that Trump declared on his first day back in office on January 20, the department in the lawsuit sought to block several Illinois and Chicago laws that “interfere with and discriminate against” his immigration policies.

The lawsuit said sanctuary laws such as the Illinois TRUST Act, which prevents state and local law enforcement from assisting federal civil immigration enforcement, violate the U.S. Constitution’s “Supremacy Clause” that states that federal law preempts state and local laws that may conflict with it.

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Trump has pledged to deport millions of people who are in the United States illegally, many of whom live in jurisdictions with sanctuary laws. {snip}

Newly installed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo on Wednesday that said the Justice Department should take actions against jurisdictions that impede immigration enforcement.

The new top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts on Wednesday vowed to investigate local officials if they obstruct the administration’s ramped up immigration arrests, saying “no one gets a pass.”

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